The field of the invention relates to mesh networks generally, and more specifically to a system and method for reducing energy consumption in a mesh network by dynamically changing a topology of the mesh network.
A mesh network enables each node in the network to not only capture and disseminate its own data, but also serve as a relay for other nodes. As such, mesh networking is a powerful way to route data. Mesh networks permit continuous connections and reconfiguration around broken or blocked paths by “hopping” a packet from device to device until a destination is reached. As such, mesh networks are self-healing in that the network can operate even when a device breaks down or a connection goes bad, which makes mesh networks very reliable.
Further, due to the structure of a mesh network, network stability actually increases as more devices that are capable of routing data to other devices join the network. However, overall energy consumption of the mesh network tends to increase as the number of new devices that join the network as routers increases since routers tend to sleep less than non-router network devices.